I was chatting today with another blogger (yes, over coffee) about the circumstances under which LGBTQ families are kept apart in hospitals. I mentioned the new federal regulations and realized I had failed to blog about them.

From the Human Rights Campaign website ...

On Tuesday, federal regulations regarding patients? hospital visitation rights will go into effect.  These new regulations require all hospitals participating in Medicaid and Medicare programs ? virtually every hospital in the country ? to permit patients to designate visitors of their choosing and prohibit discrimination in visitation based on a number of factors, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

What good news is this?  What I'm curious about is what happens what a patient's ability to designate visitors is impaired? 

The HRC has much more detail here.

This is a positive step forward.  Remember when UPMC Mercy was owned by the Catholic Church?  Do you think they would willingly have let me into ICU if Ledcat were hospitalized?  I was recently in the hospital for a few days and no one blinked when I listed my "partner" as my emergency contact.  The only awkward moment was when a doctor was asking me if I was a homosexual. I just looked at him and he moved on to another question. 

Still ... there's no real equality and protection without marriage.  Don't forget that.  We need to push for the steps and we need to celebrate when they are achieved.  We have to be realistic and we have to recognize what is achievable in our individuals states and municipalities.  But we have to remember that without true and total equality, none of us will ever have a way to tidy up all the loose ends. 

sdf

From Pam Spaulding comes this cheerful tiding ...

Mediaite has learned Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are being dropped from their Philadelphia radio station, WPHT 1210 (The Big Talker), in January.

The station is a CBS affiliate, and Philadelphia is the fourth largest radio market.

Taking Beck's 9am-noon slot is the local Dom Giordano, currently 6-10pm. Then comes Rush Limbaugh, noon-3pm, and Smerconish - who replaces Sean Hannity.

This makes me smile, especially with local news of the transfer of WDUQ out of the hands of the censoring Catholic church and into real independent arms.  There is nothing decent to listen to on Pgh's airwaves in the way of talk radio, if you are progressive and/or liberal.  Taking down the kings of right wing nuttery might pave the way for .... who knows?

sdf

I haven't done a "what's up with me" update.

I've been lacking motivation to walk/exercise.  I still hung in and got three workouts a week in, but last week I slid down to two.  So today, I got out for a 3 mile walk right after breakfast so there would be no excuses.  I have to get back on the Wii but it just seems so hard. 

I can feel the difference the less exercise has.  My knee pain is back and I'm less flexible.  I suppose it is inevitable in the winter, but I'm searching for a good motivator.  I put on a pair of one of my new size 14 jeans and they still fit so at least I'm not gaining, but I'd prefer them to fit a little more comfortably and I have about 6 other size 14 articles of clothing that don't yet fit.  I find that clothing helps beyond simply measuring how much weight I've lost.  I haven't been on the scale in three weeks. 

I've also been working on a very specific goal to increase my consumption of fruits & veggies.  There are new federal guidelines that tailor consumption to your weight and activity level.  I am recommended to eat 1.5 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of veggies each day.  Which is hard.  Really hard.  Check out this site for more details. http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/

My walk this AM was pretty awesome.  About 90% of the sidewalk was clear and there were snowflakes flurrying all around me.  I had a few moments when I gasped at how cold the air had become, but I cut 5 minutes off my time so perhaps the briskness paid off for me.  I also have an iPod that Laura gifted to me for Christmas. That makes the walk super bearable even when its cold. 

What is getting old is my route. I try to stick to good sidewalks which eliminates half of the Northside. Sparkpeople.com has a great route tracker so I'm working to up my distance to 4 miles per walk and trying to figure out a route that makes sense.  Or routes.  I want to go down by the stadiums onto the trails but I quiver at how cold it might be.  Maybe I'll venture down there this week and see what happens.  If I don't blog all week, call Ledcat to go find me.

Blogging has picked back up.  I'm on medical leave so I have more time and inspiration.  Blogging is a stress reliever for me and I set some interesting goals for this year, including more contributions to national blogs. I'm trying to infuse a bit more of Sue the person into this blog that has really tilted too far to Sue the political lesbian in the past years. 

The Society has a new project we'll be unveiling soon to demonstrate what a group of determined Pgh women can accomplish (or at least try to accomplish).  We met yesterday and that was pretty exciting.  Just the pre-project conversation was very stimulating.  I love women with opinions. 

I'm off to do a blogging interview.  I'm not walking.

One thing I like to do with this blog is examine local media coverage of LGBTQ issues.  Both the Post-Gazette and the Tribune Review provide some coverage but it is tilting more frequently to reprints of national pieces (Washington Post, New York Times, etc).  While we get exposure, we miss the local perspective.  At least I miss it. 

The Trib reprints a piece on the passport changing to allow for Parent 1 and Parent 2 so as not to discriminate against same sex parents.  It is balanced, but ... just not the same.